All competitions combined, Union Neuchâtel celebrated a tenth victory in a row on Friday evening in Valais. But that is not the main thing. Chad Timberlake’s players reached the final four of the Swiss Basketball Cup. They won their qualifying ticket during a hotly contested quarter-final against BBC Monthey-Chablais. The Unionists won 83-76. The two teams took turns leading. The proof in numbers! If it was 23 everywhere after the first quarter, Les Neuchâtelois took a four-point lead at the break. Reversal of situation: they were trailing by three points before the last quarter. It was there, at the end, that the Unionists made the difference. The depth of the bench and the collective strength spoke: “I have the impression that each player who enters the floor brings his impact”, estimates Nikola Damjanovic. “We are not focused on one or two players in the team. »
In this last quarter, the little extra that made the difference perhaps went to Lukas Keredzin. The Unionist top scorer did not play during the first half, as he arrived late for the match: “I had a university exam which took longer and then I got caught in traffic jams on the road. »
There are sometimes other priorities than the game, but Lukas Keredzin brought this little help which should not be neglected.
Note that opposite, the arguments of BBC Monthey once again rested on its two Americans, the pocket distributor Steve Robinson and the athletic Kendrick Toucha. In the racket, he imposed his power. He was difficult to control, scoring 23 points in the process: “Tchoua in the first half, he destroyed us. It’s a beast,” laughs Lukas Keredzin, who was not on the floor at that time.
Pully Lausanne also qualified for the semi-finals of the Swiss Cup on Friday evening, after largely overtaking the National Basketball Center 105 – 58. The other two qualifiers will be known this Saturday at the end of the Lugano – Friborg Olympic and Lions de Geneve – Nyon matches. /mne
